


Priorities

by littlemisscurious



Series: Days In Our Lives [23]
Category: Actor RPF, Benedict Cumberbatch - Fandom, British Actor RPF
Genre: Arguing, Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, Hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 08:33:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1184133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemisscurious/pseuds/littlemisscurious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben tries to make up for forgetting one of the biggest days in his wife's life</p>
            </blockquote>





	Priorities

A little confused Benedict eyed the black limousine parked in their driveway before he looked up towards the house. Charlene, dressed immaculately in a brownish skirt suit, was just paying the driver of the car before he bid her goodbye and walked back towards his vehicle. Benedict mumbled a greeting as they passed each other at the foot of the stairs but as he climbed them to wish his wife a good day, she closed the door right in his face.

Surprised and a little ashamed, he could feel the heat rising up in his face while behind him the wheels of the black car scrunched on the gravel on its way out. With hundreds of thoughts racing through his mind about his wife’s strange behaviour, Benedict fumbled for his keys in the pockets of his jacket ere he opened the heavy oak door quietly.

 

“Charlene?” The ground floor was quiet and dark as he stepped into the hallway and despite the faint light coming from upstairs, no sound could be heard from there either. Silently, he slipped out of his shoes and jacket, leaving both by the coat rack, eager to find his wife and discuss this obvious misunderstanding.

Upon reaching the landing, he quickly stepped into his son’s bedroom, the little boy lying in his bed, fast asleep and snoring quietly. His copper hair almost gleamed in the faint light coming from the hallway and Benedict smiled at his son lying amidst his most favourite cuddly toys. He remained by the bed for a moment, watching Noah sleep peacefully, his small chest heaving with every breath he took, unaware of the loving pair of eyes resting on him.

Carefully so as not to wake him, he breathed a kiss onto Noah’s forehead ere his feet carried him into the room next door, equally as dark and quiet, although he knew it would not stay that way for the entire night. Little Vivienne was struggling with her newly growing teeth at the moment, keeping him and Charlene on edge and sometimes on the brink of despair when none of the recommended little gadgets helped to ease their daughter’s pain and dry her tears. With quiet steps, he approached her cot, her small hand clutching the fluffy rabbit’s ears, her full lips parted as she slept soundly. “Goodnight little princess,” he breathed into the silence of the room, kissing her cheek gently ere he tiptoed out of the room again.

 

The light in the master bedroom has been turned off by now and he switched the lamp in the hallway off as well as he stepped into the room. He could make out Charlene’s form clearlt underneath the sheets, outlined against the pale moonlight shining in through the big, ceiling-high windows. “Darling?,” Benedict whispered, awaiting her reaction as he knew she was still awake. Her clothes were tidily hung up by the wardrobe right next to one of his three piece suits, which again confused him.

A thought dawned on him after a few seconds, though, and he quickly fumbled for his diary to check his schedule. “Oh shit,” he mumbled as he found the right page, _**Charlene’s Graduation Ceremony**_ written underneath the date in big, bold letters. Feeling as horrible as never before, he left the phone on the dresser by the door and stepped around the bed.

“Honey...Charlene, please,..I am SO, SO very sorry!” Desperate and guilty, Benedict sank down onto his knees as he reached her side of the bed. She was awake, her eyes were open, and tears glistened on her rosy cheeks. She snivelled quietly but did not bother to wipe the salty drops away. For a moment he thought about doing it for her but knew better than to touch her right away. She was angry and disappointed and, by god, she had every right to be.

Unsure of what to do, Benedict lowered his head, his hands resting on his thighs. He could not find the words to express how sorry he was that he had forgotten such an important event. That instead of coming home straightaway after shooting he had agreed to go out for a late lunch with Louise, Martin, and Mark which soon turned into dinner and drinks. He had not told her about it before the battery of his phone died and she was, therefore, unable to reach him.

Only recently she had uttered her concerns about becoming less important in his life compared to his work and here he was, confirming those very concerns. He was angry at himself, at his forgetfulness, at hurting the person he loved most together with his son and daughter.

 

Slowly, he lifted his head again, his heart breaking just a little more as he saw that she had turned away from him, her smooth skin pale in the moonlight. “I’m sorry. I am truly, deeply sorry, my love. I know that this is not nearly enough to make up for this immense mistake. You deserve so much more than my stupid excuses of an empty battery and a hazy mind. I am an idiot and I regret beyond anything that you had to suffer because of this,” he whispered into the silence of their room, longing to reach out and touch her, to pull her into his arms and to hold her close.

Charlene remained quiet in the face of his confession although her shaking shoulders betrayed her tears. With shaking fingers, Benedict fished a packet of tissues out of her bedside table drawer and placed it gently right before her. She didn’t look at him, didn’t acknowledge his presence but simply took a tissue and wiped her tears away before she clutched the white, crumpled handkerchief like a buoy in this ocean of anger and disappointment.

 

“I...I guess I go and sleep in the other bedroom tonight,” he mumbled after a few moments, feeling tears well up in his own eyes now after seeing and hearing her cry because of him. He loved her beyond everything and yet he had been unable to support her on such an important day. It hurt him to be physically apart from her at this very moment but he knew her well enough to give her the space she needed.

She had organised the car and presumably a babysitter and she had gotten his clothes ready for him and probably reserved a table for dinner someplace nice. But instead of receiving her well-deserved honours from the University of London, dressed up and with her husband by her side, she had waited for him, tending to the needs of their children, once more reduced to being simply housewife and mother, something that she had always feared she’d become one day, captured in the shadow of his fame.

 

Again, no reply fell from her lips so he grabbed his pyjamas, phone and charger and left the room to walk across the hallway. Her sobbing echoed off the walls of their bedroom no sooner as he had left it and without a moment’s hesitation, Benedict walked right back, dropped his clothes onto the floor and crawled onto the bed to hold her. Angry and disappointed, Charlene tried to fight him off, her small hands pounding against his sculpted chest until she gave up and allowed him to hug her, hold her, soothe her. Her sobs were drowned in the fabric of his shirt as she buried her face in the planes of his chest and her kicking feet soon fell victim to her exhaustion.

No more words were uttered that night as he continued to hold her, to show her in the only way he could how much he loved her, how much she meant to him, and how very sorry he was for denying her the pole position she should inhabit in his live. He didn’t care about the wet patches her tears left on his shirt, neither did he care about still wearing his jeans in bed instead of his more comfortable pyjama bottoms. He did not care about the pins and needles in his arm as it was buried underneath her shaking body, nor did he mind that the curtains were still wide open, allowing the bright, big moon to stare at them unhindered.

He was grateful for her allowing him to stay, for not pushing him away again, for giving him a chance, after messing up so massively, to make up for it. He knew that a lot still needed to be discussed on the next morning to come, that a mere “sorry” was not nearly enough to dissolve the issues that existed between them and which longed to be addressed. He also knew he had to sort out his priorities - once and for all.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear what you think :) More of my writing can be found at w-is-for-writing.tumblr.com :)


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